Tagged with 'Natural pearls'

The use of seed pearls in fine jewellery throughout the latter part of the 19th century was immensely popular. Elaborately decorated brooches, tiaras, pins and earrings were very representative of Victorian fashion at the time. In this article, we look at what are seed pearls?

A Fashionable Pearl

Seed pearls have long been admired by jewellers for their elegance and traditional style.

The example above of an exquisite Fabergé Egg, made for Nicholas II of Russia in 1901, stands just 12cm tall and is adorned with seed pearls. The famous French jeweller to the Tsars was known for crafting his jewelled masterpieces with precious metals, enamel, gems and delicate pearls.

Prestigious jewellers such as Tiffany, Cartier and Boucheron also studded their designs with these tiny gems to match the sensual decadence of La Belle Époque fashion.

How are these small pearls made?

The Formation of Seed Pearls

A seed pearl is a small natural pearl, formed in either a saltwater oyster or freshwater mussel, that is usually less than 2mm in diameter.

Image: Cultured seed pearls

These pearls would have been found when divers searched for natural pearls in the Persian Gulf and Asia, or closer to home in streams and rivers of the USA, Europe and the British Isles.

Today the term "seed pearl" is more widely used to describe a small pearl that has been created as a result of a pearl farmer trying to stimulate the formation of a cultured pearl in a mollusc.

Image 1: Funeral Ring, Landscape and Temples, 18th Century
Image 2: Armband, Jacob Engelberth Torsk, Stockholm, 19th Century

These cultured seed pearls are formed with the accidental help of a loose piece of tissue in the mollusc, perhaps when the implanted bead has been separated from the pearl sac or has been expelled by the oyster.

Traditionally, the first cultured seed pearls would have been formed in Akoya oysters or Lake Biwa freshwater mussels in Japan.

Learn about the different Types of Pearls in our Buying Guide here.

Seed Pearls in Jewellery

Preparing such a tiny seed pearl for use in jewellery requires precision and a careful eye, particularly if the pearl is to be individually drilled and strung in a necklace or tassel earrings.

The famous Baroda Pearl Carpet, sold at auction by Sotheby's in 2009 for $5.5m, was covered with around 1.4 million seed pearls, all drilled by hand and sewn decoratively onto the fabric.

Image 1: Beau Seed Pearl and Diamond Ring with Yellow Gold
Image 2: Beau Seed Pearl and Enamel Pendant with Yellow Gold

Beau, our collection of pearl jewellery and pearl rings, inspired by the Georgian fashion for using seed pearls in jewellery, was designed by Alice Cicolini in 2013. The collection juxtaposes the delicate seed pearl with enamel and white diamonds, and uses the bow as its central motif.

We hope you will agree that Small is most certainly Beautiful!

A truly stunning 19th century natural pearl and diamond tiara comes to auction next month at Christie's, in London, with an estimated price of £1-1.5 million. With the strength of interest in natural pearls in recent years, and of course the royal wedding, expectations are high for this unique sale.

The Rosebury Tiara is the centrepiece of an evening of rare, historical and opulent jewels. Being sold from a private collection, the tiara was originally created for the Countess of Rosebury, who upon her father's death in 1874 became the richest woman in Britain.

The bridal tiara itself boasts 13 natural saltwater button and drop-shaped pearls, ringed with diamond clusters and florettes. It is believed to have been acquired as a piece of bridal jewellery for the wedding of the Countess, perhaps making it the ultimate statement in bridal accessories. A matching pearl brooch and bracelet is also being sold as a separate lot, with an estimated price of £300-400,000.

The auction is being held at 2pm on 8th June at Christie's, King Street, London.

UPDATE

In June 2011, it was announced that the Rosebury Tiara had been sold for a dazzling £1,161,250 at auction at Christies.

The industry of diving for pearls largely disappeared with the invention of a method for producing a cultured pearl in the early 20th century.

Although a romantic notion, pearl diving was an arduous experience. Natural pearls were gathered by pearl divers that would manually search the beds of oceans, lakes and rivers, perhaps finding only 3 or 4 quality pearls for every ton of oysters brought to the surface. Modern diving suits were unavailable, with divers in the Persian Gulf descending on weighted wooden platforms and baskets up to 40 times a day.

The rarity of natural pearls pushed divers down to depths of up to 20 metres requiring two to three minute breaths for each dive. Divers would suffer from decompression sickness, the cold waters and deep-sea pressure.

Japanese pearl divers, also known as Amas, have a thousand years of diving tradition working on Akoya pearl fisheries and farms. Their trade was passed down the generations from mother to daughter as women were considered better able to hold their breath and endure the cold longer.

Ama divers started to work at the age of eleven, even still diving in their sixties or seventies. They provided for their families while their husbands kept the house and brought up the children. Ama divers still work today, but primarily now for the tourist industry.

On modern day pearl farms, pearl divers work from boats and offshore inspecting oyster baskets that are suspended in water. Over the course of 18 to 24 months divers may check on an oyster's health, recovering the oyster for cleaning and eventually harvesting of a pearl.

The fascination with an image of the pearl diver hunting for pearls will likely persist for many years.

Pearl jewellery can be found in a wide range of designs, qualities, and prices. When buying pearls, retail and online shoppers can find pearl necklaces that range from just ten to tens of thousands of pounds in price. For this reason alone, buying pearl jewellery can be a daunting task.

Here are the first 5 of ten simple questions to ask to help find the right piece of pearl jewellery for you.  The second 5 questions are here.

1. Are the pearls natural, cultured or imitation?

Natural pearls are real pearls formed in wild molluscs living in their natural habitat without any human intervention. Their rarity has made natural pearls highly valued and a collector’s gemstone. Cultured pearls are also real pearls, but are grown after a pearl farmer has stimulated the development of the pearl in the mollusc. Cultured pearls are iridescent gems that can be worn and enjoyed every day. Fake pearls are made with a coated glass bead and are fun accessories, but do not have the same organic or luxurious feel of natural and cultured pearls.

Most pearls sold in shops or online will be cultured or imitation pearls. Pearls that are described as being natural will generally not be.

2. Are the pearls freshwater or saltwater cultured pearls?

The majority of cultured pearls available in the fashion market today are Freshwater pearls and are produced in volume in freshwater mussels, mostly in China. Saltwater cultured pearls are produced in a different variety of oysters, chosen for their quality, size, shape and colour. Akoya, Tahitian and South Sea pearls are saltwater pearls. Fewer saltwater pearls are produced each year and their cost is more expensive than that of freshwater pearls.

If the origin of the pearls is not specified, or if the price is comparatively low, then assume the pearls are freshwater or imitation pearls.

3. What is the quality grading of the pearls?

Unlike the diamond industry that uses the GIA’s International Diamond Grading System (the 4Cs), there is no single accepted industry grading system for pearls. Beware of product descriptions that grade a pearl as AAA+ or AAAA as these have no real accepted meaning. Many factors will influence the value of a pearl and some of these are listed below.

Ask your retailer how a pearl is graded and assess their level of knowledge and expertise before buying pearls.

4. Are the pearls dyed?

The colour of a pearl will reflect the type of mollusc that the pearl was cultured in, but may also be as a result of certain dyes, treatments and enhancements. A Freshwater Pearl might be dyed black or peacock so as to mimic the natural colour of a black Tahitian Pearl. A colour treatment may be used to disguise the poor quality of a pearl’s lustre or surface. Pearl jewellery, in which the colour of the pearls is uniformly matched, will possibly be dyed.

Ask your retailer if the pearls have been treated for colour as many dyes will fade or change colour over time.

5. How sharp are the reflections in the pearl?

The intensity of a pearl’s reflections is known as lustre and is absolutely unique to pearls, different to any other gemstone. When grading pearls, highly valued pearls will have a mirror-like, sharp and shiny lustre. Poor quality pearls without lustre will be dull, opaque and lifeless.

Lustre is one of the most important reasons for the differences in price between one pearl and another. Look for pearls within your budget that have the best lustre, as these will complement your skin and the face more beautifully.

If you hear a pearl described as real or natural, remember that there is a significant difference in meaning.

A natural pearl is a real pearl formed in a wild mollusc living in its natural habitat and without any human intervention. Cultured pearls are also real pearls, but the pearl farmer stimulates the development of the pearls in the mollusk.

Natural pearls have been collected and used in jewellery for centuries. Until the introduction of techniques for culturing pearls in the early 20^th century, the world’s main natural pearl fisheries could be found in the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mannar Straits between India and Sri Lanka, and off the coast of California.

The image of a diver searching for pearls in azure blue tropical waters is a symbolic one, as today there are few fisheries left due to over-fishing, pollution and competition from the cultured pearl industry.

In response to increasing demand and limited supply, the value of rare natural pearls has been rising steadily over the last ten years.  A natural pearl necklace can be priced at between 100 and 10,000 times the value of a cultured pearl necklace of the same size, weight and lustre.

Is there an obvious difference between real and fake pearls ? Here are a few tips on how to tell real pearls from an imitation pearl.

It is often said that a factory-made pearl will be very smooth to the touch if passed against a tooth, whereas a natural or cultured pearl is more textured due to its layers of organic matter called nacre. We do not recommend this method as it can be damaging to the real pearl. Never be tempted to bite into the pearl itself.

Although specialist laboratories can provide an accurate assessment of a pearl by performing a range of tests including X-ray examination of the pearl itself, it can sometimes be possible in expert hands to identify excellent imitation pearls through touch and observation.

The density, weight and sound when you click imitation pearls together can be quite different to that of real pearls.

Another simple method used is to examine the drill hole in the pearl.

In contrast to natural and cultured pearls, the layering of varnish in factory-produced imitation pearls can often be readily identified at this point, perhaps by identifying some melting of the varnish at the actual drill hole.

In 1917 enthusiastic New-Yorkers gawped at a double string necklace of natural pearls valued at $1 million, and said to be the finest in the Western world, that were being exhibited by jeweller Pierre Cartier.

A natural pearl is a pearl that has been formed entirely accidentally and with no intervention from humans at all.

Falling in love with the necklace, entrepreneurial Maisie Plant offered Cartier a swap of her 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue townhouse for the item. For an additional $100 in cash, Cartier bought the landmark building that it still occupies today.

Two years later, Kokichi Mikimoto, an innovative entrepreneur from Japan that was widely credited with developing a patented method for producing the cultured pearl, launched his products onto the London market at a 25% discount to the price of natural pearls.

By the time Mrs Plant died in 1956 the Cartier necklace of pearls was auctioned off for just $150,000 as cheaper cultured pearls emerged and prices of natural pearls fell. In recent times, however, natural pearls have seen a resurgence of desirability, with the famed Baroda Pearls, a double strand of 68 natural pearls, being sold at auction at Christies in 2007 for a record $7.1 million.

All the pearls that Winterson sells are cultured pearls. We take very great care in selecting the best available for use in our jewellery.

A natural pearl might start with an itch, although most pearl experts now agree that the 'grain of sand' is nor more than a myth.

When a small seed of material such as a parasite becomes trapped within an oyster or mussel's shell, nature gets to work. The shellfish slowly deposits layers of organic material called nacre around the source of its irritation.

Nacre is made from two forms of calcium carbonate called Aragonite and Calcite, which are found in the interior lining of shellfish that is often called ‘mother-of-pearl’. These are linked together by a little organic protein called Conchiolin, which is identical to that found in human hair and fingernails. Together these substances form the nacre.

Over time, layering of this nacre by the shellfish forms a smooth surface around the foreign material slowly transforming it into a beautiful pearl, unique in its shape, size and colour. The difference from one pearl to another lies in the shape and placement of crystals of Aragonite and Calcite that are being held in place by Conchiolin.

In our next articles we shall look at the differences between natural and cultured pearls.

The pearl really is one of nature’s true wonders. The reflections of light from thin translucent layers beneath a pearl’s surface create a series of unique shimmering colours that are found in no other gemstone.

The mesmerizing surface of pearls has inspired many artists to capture this gemstone in paintings and one of the most famous such paintings is the Girl With A Pearl Earring by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer.

 

After the journey to the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492, natural pearls became the largest export from the New World to Europe for almost fifty years until the later development of gold mines in Peru and Mexico. With more of these wondrous gemstones reaching Europe, there was a “pearl rush” amongst the rich and royal European families eager to show their wealth and status.

 

 

One of the main trading centres in Europe for pearls was Holland. Artist Vermeer (1632-1675) was the son of a prosperous Dutch merchant in Delft and would have observed for himself how pearls were being worn, envied and sought after.

 

Vermeer’s paintings depict an emerging class of wealthy merchant families. There are thirty five paintings attributed to Vermeer today, but perhaps the most famous is the Girl With A Pearl Earring. Vermeer painted his masterpiece in 1665-66. Sometimes called the “Mona Lisa of the North”, the painting hangs today in the Mauritshuis Gallery in The Hague.

The composition of the painting is balanced, almost peaceful. On a dark, near black background, a girl is depicted wearing simple clothing of natural colours and a blue headscarf. The large pearl drop earring is an essential element of the painting, laying towards the centre of the frame.

 

The girl in the painting has a questioning expression, looking over her shoulder. Some historians have suggested that the girl may have been one of his daughters and others have proposed that she was a maid helping Vermeer with his work.

 

The light gently enters the painting from the left side as if early sunshine is glancing through a window, and is being reflected on the girl’s face and by the shimmering lustre of the pearl.

 

Like the radiance of a natural pearl, the Girl With A Pearl Earring carries an era of mystery and beauty.

 

Who is this young girl and what is she asking or telling us?